I practically boiled my fermenting beer

Just did my 27th batch on Friday. I've made the usual noob mistakes over that time but I think I may have screwed the pooch on this one.

Tried NB's Partersbier. Think I was more into the back story than what it might taste like. Full deets here:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/allgrain/AG-Patersbier.pdf

Finished brewing late at night and put this one to bed in my ferm chamber (basically a foam insulated, wooden box) in my 58 degree basement. Put the heat wrap on it and set the temp to 68, figuring the heat generated from fermentation would knock it up a few degrees. (Optimum temp range for the yeast used is 64-78.)

After 24 hours it was fermenting happily at 66. On day 2 it was down to 64. Just couldn't seem to keep the temp up even in the insulated box. So i wrapped the carboy in a couple of blankets to contain the heat. Day 3: 60 degrees. Then it dawned on me. While the Johnson controller was calling for heat from the wrap...I never plugged the damn heat wrap in!! Problem solved, right? But I didn't think to remove the blankets. Fatal mistake. Day 4: The temp reading was <insert Dr. Evil impression>......ONE HUNNNNNDRED DEGREEEESS! The damn blankets and insulated chamber kept so much heat in when I opened the box it felt like I was standing next to a furnace.

So what I have I done to this beer? Is it a dump?

Thoughts? Predictions?

I predict it's going to taste like super hot fusel alcohol and give you massive headaches.

Ha. I did the same thing this weekend with a saison. Accidentally ramped from a happy 74 to 100 over about 10 hours. Fermented from 1.044 to 1.006 in 36 hours.

Luckily, the hydro samples taste good. I figure RDWHAHB and see what happens. Sounds like you were fast enough into fermentation that you should be fine. That patersbier is a tasty recipe. Enjoy it, hot ferment and all.

Well, I'll state the obvious and say 100 is certainly extreme, BUT, it went three days prior to the issue, so I'm betting fermentation was pretty much done. I wouldn't dump it. Let it cool down, give it another week or so, and take of gravity. If it's done, and it doesn't taste horrifying, bottle or keg it.

I ramp my saisons up to 100 on purpose. They dry out nicely, and I've never had an issue with fusels. Saison yeasts just don't play by the same rules.

You guys are a trip. Love how quickly you jump on these threads and the variety of the answers the OP gets. We're already looking at "this will give you massive headaches" to "I do this on purpose". Good times. I suppose since I've already made the major (time) investment, we'll keg it after Primary and see what we've got.

Interesting takeaway here is finding out I can swing the carboy temp +42 degrees over the ambient temp in my basement if needed. Would I ever need to do this again? No. But interesting nonetheless.

Thanks all!

I totally glanced over the part about it being belgian yeast somehow. The other poster was right, belgian yeasts don't seem to play by the same rules. fusels are a possibility, but only a very small one i think

Well you need to tell us what becomes of this! I'm curious. It's like watching a train wreck that might heal the crippled engineer or kill everyone on board.

Most of the damage from high temps is done early on, if it's done at all. You spent the first couple days cool, so all may be well. Let it cool down slowly, give it a week, and pull a sample for gravity and taste testing. See how it fares. Make a decision about what to do with it after that.

Your beer will be fine. Belgian yeast can take the heat.

Will let everyone know how it turns out. Down to 80 degrees today and slowly dropping. The weird thing was when I noticed the temp was in the triple digits, the airlock was still going strong. I figured I would have toasted all the yeast at that temp.

To be continued....

No, you definitely won't kill them at 100F. Yeast love that temp...they go crazy. Unfortunately, most of us don't like how they make our beer taste at those temps. Contrary to popular belief, not all (nor even most) Belgian ale strains do well at super high temps, not to mention Belgian lager strains.

Give it time to condition a bit and do a taste test. It might be OK, or it might be downright awful. I suspect closer to the OK side, but you'll have to test it to find out.

UPDATE.

Transfered to Secondary tonight. Why? Beer was terribly cloudy with a lot of swirling trub. Probably not necessary but doing it anyway. OG was 1.046 and we're now down to 1.007. Aroma is sweet, almost lemony. Taste is very clean. Not picking up anything that would make me think this is "bad". But I've also never tried a style like this before so I'm not sure if I'm in the comfort zone. But it's not a dump. Certainly not a session beer either but not a dump. Good news.

Anyone else made this one from Northern Brewer? Does it sounds like I'm on the mark?

Thanks!

I once managed to leave the thermocouple outside my fermentation chamber. The temperature got up to 100 within one day and stayed there for two days. Shockingly, the beer (a hoppy wheat ale) turned out great, perhaps because it was a big healthy pitch of clean American Ale yeast. High temps will not necessarily kill a beer.

My 100 degree saison (the new NB recipe with orange peel & lemongrass) is in the keg, and despite the unorthodox 74 to 104 to 74 in 36 hour fermentation, it's a nice beer. A lot of citrus, some pepper, just a touch of funk. I will definitely give this yeast (Danstar Belle Saison) a few more runs. Curious to see what out does at my normal 64 degree fermentation.

One thing that may bother a few people is the clarity. It's really cloudy. Time will tell if that cloudiness drops out. The flavor and body are nice though.

Just goes to show that in homebrewing, you don't need to be afraid of your mistakes. RDWHAHB. Or two.